On December 17, 2021 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc. that the termination of an employee for submitting a rebuttal for inclusion in the employee's personnel file violated public policy and amounted to wrongful discharge. Pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52C, Massachusetts employees have a statutory right to submit a rebuttal to any record contained within the personnel file with which he or she disagrees. The statute provides for fines for a violation and enforcement by the Attorney General. It does not expressly authorize a private cause of action. Massachusetts, however, has long recognized a cause of action for an employee whose termination occurs under circumstances that violate public policy. The Court ultimately concluded that the statutory right to submit a rebuttal was sufficiently important to bring it within the protection of the public policy doctrine. In other words, an employer who terminates an employee because the employee submits a rebuttal risks suit for wrongful discharge.
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